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Nowt so queer as folk

Queer Folk join Jennifer Lucy Allan to shine a light on queerness in traditional songs and folk history, sharing archive tunes as well as contemporary artists.

There’s nowt so queer as folk!

Jennifer Lucy Allan is joined by Queer Folk, aka musicians Sophie Crawford and George Sansome, to dig into the rich queer history of traditional songs and folk music. The Queer Folk project began from the question “LGBTQIA+ people have always existed so where are they in our folk music, song, stories, and dance?” Their work aims to counter the invisibility of queer history and performers in the traditional music world, and the pair have been digging through archives to find traces of queerness - some explicitly queer, some more implicit or coded, and some which they felt were ripe for queering. Sophie and George often perform these songs, give talks, and lead workshops on queer folk music, as well as regular Queer Ceilidh events. They share a selection of their favourite discoveries from the archive as well as some by contemporary folk artists.

Elsewhere, Jennifer plays some more folk music (if you subscribe to the Big Bill Broonzy school of thought that “all music is folk music. I ain’t ever heard a horse sing.”) And, staying in the Pride spirit, there’ll be a track by everyone’s favourite disco cellist Arthur Russell, music from hell courtesy of ‘80s punk band Nervous Gender, and brand new club experiments from Nsasi, part of Uganda's rebellious ANTI-MASS collective.

Produced by Kit Callin
A Reduced Listening production for 91热爆 Radio 3

1 hour, 29 minutes

Last on

Fri 28 Jun 2024 22:00

Music Played

  • Shovel Dance Collective

    My husband's got no courage in him

    • Betwixt & Between 7.
    • Betwixt & Between Tapes.
  • LUCE MAWDSLEY

    All Seasons Swarm

    • Northwest & Nebulous.
    • Pure O.
  • Ollie Gilbert

    Pretty Polly Oliver

    • Wave The Ocean, Wave The Sea: Field Recordings From Alan Lomax's "Southern Journ.
    • Mississippi Records.
  • Tristwch Y Fenywod

    Llwydwyrdd

    • Tristwch y Fenywod.
    • Night School.
  • Chavela Vargas

    La Llorona

    • Chavela Vargas.
    • RCA Victor.
  • Nsasi

    Omweso

    • Coinage.
    • HAKUNA KULALA.
  • Ma Rainey

    Prove it on me blues

    • Prove It On Me Blues / Hear Me Talking To You.
    • Paramount.
  • Big Bill Broonzy

    This Train (Spoken Introduction)

    • Trouble in Mind.
    • Smithsonian Folkways.
  • Pauline Oliveros

    Horse sings from a cloud

    • Accordion & Voice.
    • imprec.
  • Arthur Russell

    Ballad Of The Lights (feat. Allen Ginsberg)

    • Ballad Of The Lights.
    • Audika.
  • George Sansome & Sophie Crawford

    Spring At Last/ Doffing Mistress

    • Spring At Last/ Doffing Mistress.
  • Anne Briggs

    Willie o' Winsbury

    • Anne Briggs.
    • Topic Records.
  • Jean Hopkins

    Sprig of Thyme

    • 4 Sussex Singers.
    • Collector Records.
  • Nic Jones

    Ploughman Lads

    • In Search of Nic Jones.
    • Mollie Music.
  • Granny’s Attic

    Gilderoy

    • Wheels Of The World.
    • Grimdon Records.
  • Martin Carthy

    Work life out to keep life in

    • Rigs Of The Time - The Best Of Martin Carthy.
    • Music Club.
  • Malin Lewis

    Trans

    • Trans.
  • Nervous Gender

    Berlin Red Head

    • Music From Hell.
    • Subterranean Records.
  • Theodora Laird & Caius Williams

    Dummy

    • Crosspiece.
    • Cherche Encore.
  • Akihiro Miwa

    Hymne a l'amour

    • 愛の讃歌 / Hymne à l'amour.
    • CBS/Sony.
  • Yasmin Williams

    Sunshowers

    • Urban Driftwood.
    • SPINSTER.

Broadcast

  • Fri 28 Jun 2024 22:00

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